Brad Thorn heard some disturbing things after Queensland's disappointing Super Rugby season. It won't be repeated on his watch as the towering All Black brings a new world order to Ballymore.
As tensions surface in the usually trouble-free waters of New Zealand rugby, the Wallabies are driving hard for closer engagement with the Australian Super Rugby sides.
Rugby Australia will be watching Canberra crowds this year to see if the capital is keen for more rugby.
Brumbies coach Dan McKellar needed two words to sum up plans for the season: more tries.
Israel Folau seems happy playing rugby but with his Wallabies eligibility secured for the long term it is the threat of Europe, not rugby league, that Australian coach Michael Cheika must ward off.
Quade Cooper and Karmichael Hunt might be banned from Ballymore for the time being, but two of Australian rugby's highest earners have been secretly training together for weeks at a boxing gym four kilometres away in Brisbane's inner city.
The Wallabies coach and Rugby Australia's boss have conceded the Quade Cooper situation is a bad look for the game.
David Pocock's sabbatical year has been one of the talking points of the season since the flanker returned to Australia only to have surgery to repair an ongoing knee issue. But Wallabies coach Michael Cheika had a few things to say to the critics.
A big name new sponsor for the Wallabies could mean the clouds are lifting over rugby after one of the worst year's in the game's Australian history.
Veteran Australian five-eighth Quade Cooper is on a long and lucrative period of gardening leave with the full backing of the Reds and Rugby Australia. Can the game really afford it?
Kurtley Beale has questioned Brad Thorn's "silly" decision to leave Quade Cooper out of Queensland's plans this season, saying his former Wallabies teammate is a match-winner who at least deserves to be picked up by another Super Rugby franchise.
Kurtley Beale is finally back in a familiar Waratahs jersey, with as much exuberance as the day he first trained with NSW as a high school student, and gearing up to play a truncated format of rugby – something he hasn't done for 15 years.
Melbourne Rebels play their first trial game against the ACT Brumbies in Queanbeyan on Saturday and he has praised his Wallabies stars as being in top condition despite being on leave for six weeks of preseason.
Australian men's sevens captain Lewis Holland has expressed relief at avoiding the "Big Three" of South Africa, Fiji and New Zealand in his team's pool at the Commonwealth Games.
Charlotte Caslick says she can sympathise that sevens might not be the most spectator-friendly sport during long days of competition but is leaving decisions about tournament formats up to the powers that be after her controversial comments last week.
At about the same time the Warriors lawyered up in their fight with New Zealand Rugby over one of footy's hottest prospects, rumours began to circulate that Roger Tuivasa-Sheck had defected to rugby.
Japan could play host to a Bledisloe Cup decider after the NZ Rugby Union announced they would take the third Test there this year.
Two of Australia's last three Wallabies coaches, Robbie Deans and Michael Cheika, will host a summit for coaches in the lead-up to the Brisbane Global Tens event.
The new Australian rugby boss says she sees in merit in Charlotte Caslick's headline-grabbing Sevens gripe.
Just as Charlotte Caslick blasted as "pretty s--t" some of the Sydney Sevens scheduling, Rugby Australia learnt the hefty cost of bringing the event forward a week.
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